The Nashville Redevelopment Commission discussed ongoing projects such as TIF, Stellar and a potential property within town limits in a virtual meeting on Tuesday, May 12.

TIF

The Nashville Redevelopment Commission has begun to discuss possibly expanding the TIF area that was established in 2012.

TIF stands for tax-increment financing. In a TIF area, a portion of new property tax revenue is captured for use by the redevelopment commission. That new tax revenue is the difference between what that land was taxed at when it became part of the TIF area and what it is being taxed at now.

Bonding against that TIF money, or the increased property taxes that would come from that land, a redevelopment commission can take out loans for projects that would benefit the TIF area, such as sewers, sidewalks and more.

TIF also stops the flow of those new property taxes to any taxing unit besides the redevelopment commission for up to 25 years. The original taxes on the undeveloped property, though, keep being distributed. After the TIF expires, all taxing units receive the increased amount.

Nashville’s TIF area includes nearly all business-zoned areas in town limits.

It does not include Hard Truth Hills, which was annexed into Nashville in January 2018. When the restaurant, distillery and spirit rack house were built there on that 300-plus-acre property, no TIF money was captured because the property was not put in the TIF district.

RDC adviser Ed Curtin said that Hard Truth Hills is so successful now, the commission could still consider putting it into the TIF district. If the owners were double the size of their facility, the RDC would be able to get the tax increment off that development.

As of the end of 2019, Nashville had captured no money in its TIF fund since the TIF area was created.

Creating or expanding a TIF district requires a four-step process. If commission members wanted to make any more changes to the district, they could do it all at once, he said.

“It’d be worth looking at all the parcels currently in the TIF area, look at what we want to take out, others we want to convert to residential,” Curtin said. “The next step is going through an evaluation process of what we have so we can make an informed decision.”

The next step would be to do a declaratory resolution that essentially identifies the area and the plan. After that, the resolution must go to the Brown County Area Plan Commission to make sure that it’s consistent with what that group wants, then the Nashville Town Council. Finally, it would come back to the RDC for a public hearing. The process takes at least three or four months.

“It doesn’t change how a property’s taxed (now). It has no impact on anybody,” Curtin said. “The only difference is that on new development at the Hard Truth Hills property, those are funds that could potentially come to the RDC.”

Town council member Nancy Crocker said she was initially skeptical about TIF until attending a conference that explained it. “They won me over,” she said. “I really think it’s a good thing for our town to be doing more of this.”

The commission plans to have a workshop to look at what’s included in the TIF area within the next couple weeks.

Creekside

The Creekside Retreat property on State Road 46 East also was discussed.

RDC President Raymond Modglin said the owner was interested in possibly donating the land to the county, since the business is closing. However it lies within town limits, so the Nashville RDC questioned if it should be something for this commission to consider rather than the Brown County Redevelopment Commission.

It was suggested to have a conversation with the Brown County RDC and the property owner. Curtin said that at minimum, the Nashville RDC would want to get an environmental assessment done before it accepted a piece of property.

“There may be opportunities with it, but there may also be potential drawbacks,” he said.

RDC member Carol Bowden expressed concern about numerous flooding episodes at this property. “I wouldn’t be in a hurry,” she said, “but I would explore the pros and cons extensively.”

RDC member Roger Kelso agreed with being cautious, but was not as concerned with what would be considered traditional environmental issues.

RDC member Victor Bongard said he knew only a couple of acres are usable because of the flooding. “Maybe another organization could bear (the risk), and at the same time we have the opportunity to capture the tax increment in a project that goes there,” Bongard said.

Kelso said that the property has been “problematic” since the 1970s, but he was excited about evaluating it. “We ought to look at it and see,” he said. “Ground doesn’t come around all the time. There are things you can do in floodplains.”

The Nashville RDC planned to communicate with the Brown County RDC about the property.

“I don’t want us to pass it up without us at least taking some viable look at it,” Modglin said. “We could still profit off of it even if we’re not in control, due to the TIF district.”

Stellar

The 2020 Stellar Communities program was canceled by the state, with that money instead being used for COVID relief.

The Nashville RDC is still considering entering the Stellar program for 2021 in partnership with another government entity, which is now a required part of the program. The town hadn’t formally approached the county yet about participating.

“Until we get farther in the year, we won’t know whether they’re going to do it next year,” Curtin said about the state. “We can at least have a conversation to see how we’ll work together with the county.”